OVERALL EXPECTATIONS

Business Fundamentals

A1 demonstrate an understanding of how businesses respond to needs, wants, supply, and demand;

A2 compare types of businesses;

A3 demonstrate an understanding of ethics and social responsibility in business;

A4 demonstrate an understanding of the benefits and challenges for Canada in the field of international business.

Functions of a Business

B1 explain the role of production in business;

B2 explain the role of human resources in business;

B3 demonstrate an understanding of sound management practices in business;

B4 demonstrate an understanding of the importance and role of marketing in business;

B5 demonstrate an understanding of the importance and role of accounting in business; B6 demonstrate an understanding of the importance and role of information and communication technology in business.

Finance

C1 demonstrate an understanding of income and spending issues facing individuals and businesses;

C2 demonstrate an understanding of how banks and other financial institutions operate;

C3 demonstrate an understanding of effective investment practices;

C4 analyse the role and importance of credit in personal and business finance.

Entrepreneurship

D1 describe characteristics and skills associated with successful entrepreneurs and demonstrate an understanding of the contributions to Canadian business of selected entrepreneurs;

D2 analyse the importance of invention and innovation in entrepreneurship.

COURSE CONTENT

Unit 1 - The Role and Impact of Business --- 24 hours

Unit 2 - Money and Personal Finance  --- 18 hours

Unit 3 - Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit  --- 17 hours

Unit 4 - Business in a Competitive and Changing Environment  --- 22 hours

Unit 5 - Entrepreneurship and International Business  --- 19 hours

Business Plan & Final Exam  --- 10 hours

Total Time: 110 hours

TEACHING & LEARNING STRATEGIES

• Direct Instruction (teacher-led)

• Direct Instruction (discussion possible)

• Class Discussion (teacher facilitated)

• Teacher reading to class

• Silent individual reading

• Independent Work (teacher facilitation)

• Brainstorming

• Class Activity (teacher facilitation)

• Worksheets/Surveys

• Teacher modeling

• Use of video tape or audio materials

ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION

Purpose

The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment relates directly to the expectations for the course.

A variety of assessments for and as learning are conducted on a regular basis to allow ample opportunities for students to improve and ultimately demonstrate their full range of learning and in order for the teacher to gather information to provide feedback. Assessment tasks relate to the success criteria set out in lesson plans. Success criteria allow students to see what quality looks like.

Evaluation is the process of judging the quality of student work in relation to the achievement chart categories and criteria, and assigning a percentage grade to represent that quality. Evaluation is based on gathering evidence of student achievement through:

• Products

• Observations

• Conversations

Weighting of Categories

Knowledge & Understanding --- 25%

Thinking --- 25%

Communication --- 25%

Application --- 25%

Grading

• The final grade is based on performance in 3 areas: products, observations, conversations.

• 70% of the grade is based on evaluations conducted throughout the course.

• 30% is based on a final evaluation.

Assessment Tools

Anecdotal comments ; Rubrics

Assessment Strategies

Assessment for Learning

Quizzes ; Journals ; Independent Study Assignment ; Researching ; Work Sheets

Assessment as Learning

Reflective Journal ; Exit and Entrance Cards ; Graphic Organizers ; Self/Peer assessment

Assessment of Learning

Tests ; Projects ; Demonstrations ; Independent Study Assignment; Researching ; Debates ; Work Sheets

CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROGRAM PLANNING

Instructional Approaches

Teachers in the school are expected to:

• clarify the purpose for learning

• help students activate prior knowledge

• differentiate instruction for individual students and small groups according to need

• explicitly teach and model learning strategies

• encourage students to talk through their thinking and learning processes

• provide many opportunities for students to practise and apply their developing knowledge and skills

• apply effective teaching approaches involve students in the use of higher-level thinking skill

• encourage students to look beyond the literal meaning of texts

Teachers use a variety of instructional and learning strategies best suited to the particular type of learning. Students have opportunities to learn in a variety of ways:

• individually

• cooperatively

• independently with teacher direction

• through investigation involving hands-on experience

• through examples followed by practice

• by using concrete learning tools - manipulatives - in mathematics such as connecting cubes, measurement tools, algebra tiles, and number cubes

• by encouraging students to gain experience with varied and interesting applications of the new knowledge. Rich contexts for learning open the door for students to see the “big ideas” of mathematics that will enable and encourage them to reason mathematically throughout their lives.

Teaching Approaches

Students have a unique opportunity in business studies to apply critical and creative thinking strategies to real world situations and scenarios. Whether through case studies of real or fictitious companies, cooperative work in-class, or various forms of experiential learning, students have opportunities afforded to them in these courses that are difficult to mimic in other fields. As such, it is crucial for teachers to take advantage of these opportunities to bolster students’ critical thinking skills and lead them to applying it not only in their current course of study but in other fields such as mathematics, language, and the sciences.

Students must also be made aware of the strong connection between their studies in-class and how it is related to the everyday world around them. By making this connection, students can be shown that the studies in this course are not just limited to the classroom’s walls, but to their communities and the world.

Teachers must also be aware of the forms of business in the local and surrounding community and emphasise key overlap between the requirements in their courses and the needs of these local businesses to foster a better connection between school work, employability skills, and the local community.

Current events also has a major effect on businesses, especially after recent issues with the world economy. How are different countries business and economic practices related to each other? How is the global community connected by the interchange of products, services, and ideas? Questions like these can help teachers build students’ global citizenship and understanding that their community is part of a much larger whole and their actions have effects that can ripple far.

Program Considerations for Students with Special Education Needs

Teachers must incorporate appropriate strategies for instruction and assessment to facilitate the success of students with special educational needs in their classrooms. These strategies stem from the beliefs as laid out in Special Education Transformation: The report of the Co-Chairs with the Recommendations of the Working Table on Special Education, 2006:

• All students can succeed

• Universal design and differentiated instruction are effective and interconnected means of meeting the learning or productivity needs of any group of students

• Successful instructional practices are founded on evidence-based research, tempered by experience

• Classroom teachers are key educators for a students’ literacy and numeracy development.

• Each student has his or her own unique patterns of learning.

• Classroom teachers need the support of the larger community to create a learning environment that supports students with special education needs.

• Fairness is not sameness.

Teachers must plan their program that recognize the diversity of students’ learning styles, needs, and responses, so students can have performance tasks that respect their abilities so they can derive the greatest possible benefit from the teaching and learning process.

Teachers must be mindful of three types of accommodations for students:

• Instructional Accommodations: changes in teaching strategies, including styles of presentation, methods of organization, or use of technology and multimedia

• Environmental Accommodations: changes that the student may require in the classroom and/or school environment, such as preferential seating or special lighting.

• Assessment accommodations: changes in assessment procedures that enable the student to demonstrate his or her learning, such as allowing additional time to complete tests or assignments, or permitting oral responses to test questions

No modifications to course expectations are made at this school.

Program Considerations for English Language Learners

Teachers must incorporate appropriate strategies for instruction and assessment to facilitate the success of the English language learners in their classrooms. These strategies include:

• modification of some or all of the subject expectations depending on the level of English proficiency

• use of a variety of instructional strategies (e.g., extensive use of visual cues, graphic organizers, scaffolding; previewing of textbooks; pre-teaching of key vocabulary; peer tutoring; strategic use of students’ first languages)

• use of a variety of learning resources (e.g., visual material, simplified text, bilingual dictionaries, and materials that reflect cultural diversity)

• use of assessment accommodations (e.g., granting of extra time; use of oral interviews, demonstrations or visual representations, or tasks requiring completion of graphic organizers and cloze sentences instead of essay questions and other assessment tasks that depend heavily on proficiency in English).

Health and Safety in Business Studies

Given that students are not only studying concepts of business fundamentals and concepts, but also effective workplace skills, students will need to develop critical concepts about health and safety in the business workplace as well.

Whether in cooperative education placement or other workplace experiences, teachers must provide support for students in these environments in order for students to understand the importance of issues relating to health and safety.

It is also crucial that students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for safe workplace participation before taking part in any workplace learning experiences, but also their rights in the workplace: to function in an environment free of abuse and harassment, to establish boundaries for their own personal safety, and the right to refuse work they feel is unsafe or will put them in an unsafe position.

Policy/Program Memorandum #76A outlines procedures for ensuring provision of Health and Safety Insurance Board coverage for students meeting the requirements. Teachers should also be aware of the requirements outlined in OHSA for students to be in various specific workplace settings. Other policies and procedures are outlined in Cooperative Education and Other Forms of Experiential Learning: Policies and Procedures for Ontario Secondary Schools, 2000.

Antidiscrimination Education

Learning resources reflect students’ interests, backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. Learning materials should:

• enable students to become more sensitive to the diverse cultures and perceptions of others, including Aboriginal peoples

• discuss aspects of the history of mathematics to make students aware of the various cultural groups that have contributed to the evolution of mathematics over the centuries

• illustrate to students that everyday people use mathematics in their everyday lives, both at work and at home

• connect mathematics to real world situations and human affairs such as health, science, environmental studies, trend analysis, and politics.

Literacy and Inquiry/Research Skills

The school emphasizes the importance of the following:

• using clear, concise communication in the classroom involving the use of diagrams, charts, tables, and graphs

• emphasizing students’ ability to interpret and use graphic texts.

• acquiring the skills to locate relevant information from a variety of sources, such as books, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, interviews, videos, and the Internet.

• learning that all sources of information have a particular point of view

• learning that the recipient of the information has a responsibility to evaluate it, determine its validity and relevance, and use it in appropriate ways.

Role of Technology

Information and communications technologies (ICT) tools used in many ways:

• Students use multimedia resources, databases, Internet websites, digital cameras, and word-processing programs.

• Students use databases, spreadsheets, dynamic geometry and statistical software, graphing software, computer algebra systems, and so on in order to quickly navigate through complex problems, to see the effect of dynamic data on their values and trends, and to see a graphical representation of data.

• They use technology to collect, organize, and sort the data they gather and to write, edit, and present reports on their findings.

• Students are encouraged to use ICT to support and communicate their learning. For example, students working individually or in groups can use computer technology and/or Internet websites to gain access to museums and archives in Canada and around the world.

• Students use digital cameras and projectors to design and present the results of their research to their classmates.

• The school plans to use ICT to connect students to other schools and to bring the global community into the classroom.

• Students are made aware of issues of Internet privacy, safety, and responsible use, as well as of the potential for abuse of this technology, particularly when it is used to promote hatred.

Career Education

Students are given opportunities to develop career-related skills by:

• applying their skills to work-related situations

• exploring educational and career options

• developing research skills

• developing key essential skills such as reading text, writing, computer use, measurement and calculation, and problem solving

• practising expository writing

• learning strategies for understanding informational reading material

• making oral presentations

• working in small groups with classmates to help students express themselves confidently and work cooperatively with others.

Financial Literacy

The school is emphasizing the importance of ensuring that Ontario students have the opportunity to improve their financial literacy. Financial literacy is defined as “having the knowledge and skills needed to make responsible economic and financial decisions with competence and confidence”. The goal is to help students acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to understand and respond to complex issues regarding their own personal finances and the finances of their families, as well as to develop an understanding of local and global effects of world economic forces and the social, environmental, and ethical implications of their own choices as consumers. Thus, an attempt will be made to integrate Financial Literacy in all the school’s courses.

Financial Literacy in the context of business is central in many cases, and emphasized in almost all business courses. Examining the purpose of a large CEO salary, or the benefit of decreasing production time of various goods by fractions of a second, on the surface, seem to be minor questions with trivial answers, but in the context of a business course can lead to many enriching discussions and opportunities for students to connect their understanding and stretch their critical thinking skills.

Environmental Education in Business Studies

Two areas of learning that can be connected with learning in environmental education are: the ethical, moral, and legal considerations in business; as well as the skills necessary for the skills necessary for success in business. Teachers must be sure that these courses cover the role of business enterprises in responding to people’s needs and wants, but also fostering the belief and skills necessary for students to do this in an environmentally conscious manner.

While the “wants” of society can conflict with the “needs”, teachers must be sure to make students aware of the danger of sacrificing the need of environmental protection.

Academic Honesty

Students who present the work of others as their own are guilty of plagiarism and will receive a mark of zero for the work and will have the details of the plagiarism noted in their school records. Students who are guilty of cheating on tests or examinations will receive a mark of zero on the test or examination and have the details of the cheating noted in their school records.

Late Assignments

Students are responsible for providing evidence of their achievement of the overall expectations within the time frame specified by the teacher, and in a form approved by the teacher. There are consequences for not completing assignments for evaluation or for submitting those assignments late.

Resources

Exploring Business for the 21st Century © 2001, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Moodle Website

Dictionaries, Thesaurus etc.

Various Daily Newspapers, Magazines, and Periodicals

(Audio and Video material) CBC, The Fifth Estate, etc.

Various Internet Resources:

• OWL English Purdue

• The University of Toronto Library

• The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

• The Toronto Star

• The Globe and Mail

• Wikipedia